Gordon Building - Topeka, Kansas - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The Gordon Building is located at 900-904 S. Kansas Avenue, on the south end of downtown Topeka, Kansas (pop 122,377). The building faces west, toward the east-facing buildings on Kansas Avenue, the city's principal north/south thoroughfare, and the Kansas Statehouse, which lies just two blocks to the west. The building occupies the former site of the four-story brick Copeland Hotel, built in 1883. Over the years, the hotel was expanded to incorporate the adjacent lot to the south. The Gordon Building, which was built after the hotel was destroyed by fire in 1909, maintained the footprint of the Copeland Hotel and appears to have incorporated some of the stone and brick structure of the hotel.

The Gordon Building is a four-story reinforced-concrete, stone and brick building with stone, blond brick and bone terra cotta facing. The west (front) elevation measures 75'. The north (side) elevation measures 150'. The building is made up of two masses - a north mass that measures 50' x 150' and a south mass that measures approximately 25' x 60'. The exterior remains intact with character-defining features including the original blond brick, terr-cotta details, some historic steel and wood windows on the south and east elevations. A redevelopment of the building is reversing changes made after the 1966 tornado. After the tornado destroyed the original double-hung windows on the north and west elevations, the window openings were enclosed with concrete blocks. The blocks have recently been removed and new double-hung enameled aluminum windows installed. Non-historic aluminum storefront windows and doors, aluminum transom covering, and aluminum cantilevered storefront awning were also removed as part of the recent rehabilitation. The building's interior, which is simple, has changed little over time.